Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by UCLABrewN84:

Pours a clear dark brown with a foamy dark khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of toasted malt and caramel. Taste is much the same with a herbal hop flavor on the finish. There is a medium bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but I am liking the smell over the taste.

More User Reviews:

4/5 rDev +6.4%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Ninkasi Sleighr Ale, 2010

Pour a dark dark brown color with a small cream colored head. Smells like nutty chocolate with a hint of mint. The taste is strong on chocolate and hops. It seems more like a porter than an altbier. The nutty smell isn't really there on the tongue as would be expected from an altbier while it also has strong carbonation. The mouthfeel is great. It drinks very clean and crisp. The sweet chocolate lingers on the tongue well.

Pours a very dark mahogany brown with a one finger light brown head with some light delicate lacing.

Taste is quite malty as to be expected with the style, there's a nice earthy and slightly sharp flavor that rounds it is out well, it doesn't seem syrupy or overly sweet but it's making my lips sticky...

Pours dark with a thick and creamy hazel-colored foam. Coffee, roasted marshmallows, caramel and a whiff of fresh hops escape the rim and hit my nose. Well balanced and fresh smelling which is nice and surprising.

The smooth nose continues on the palate where each component of roasted malts, hops and alcohol blend harmoniously, creating a very enjoyable beer; especially if you happen to sit in front of a fireplace during a cold winter night. It is delicate, yet robust in its composition, successfully creating an alt beer which has gone to the Dark Side.

Thanks to Tuttle for breaking this out the night before Hopfest! Went into it thinking, ah, I dunno, not my style/thing, but figured, hey, good friend, opening beers, love Ninkasi, made it easy to go along.

Poured out a rich dark brown and red, but with ample clarity given its deep color. Very interesting aroma, maybe just because of the Christmas theme, I was getting caramel nuttiness, cinammon, taragon, tobacco, pepper, spice/clove. Really deep.

Taste, so much easier than I thought it would be. And more sweetness, but never becoming a 'sweet' beer, ample malt bill and other ingredients seemed to tame this bad boy. Nothing about hops to talk about. About the dryest finish of a beer of this style/vibe I've come around, not heavy, creamy at times, not super challenging, just lots to pick up on. Unique. When the wave of smooth and creamy hits you, you start wondering if there is some flaked oats used in this. Whatever they did, it was enjoyable.

Of course, it looks like a winter seasonal, we drank it in September, so i dunno if this aged and mellowed or whatnot, because that split bomber is my only insight, so I guess at the very least I can say this beer does just fine aged up to 9 months.

A: Pours a very dark reddish-brown, with only the faintest bit of translucency to accentuate the color. A finger's worth of head quickly dissipates, leaving several soap-like bubbles clinging to the edge. Faint carbonation ever so slightly disturbs the surface at the center. As the volume of liquid decreases, more light is let through and an attractive orange hue reveals itself. Perhaps if I'd had a Stange I could've enjoyed the color through the whole glass.

S: Sweet malts, dark fruit—raisins. Mild, though.

T: Malts give way to sweet dark fruits, and the finish clings to my upper palate: hoppy, here. As the beer warms, the hops calm and I pick up a flavor of orange peel to accompany the color.

M: Refreshing amount of carbonation and not too heavy or thick; all pleasant surprises.

O: Really enjoyable after warming a bit; it'll be nice to work through the six-pack during these dark evenings.

Poured a clear, deep brown body with reddish tint when held to light and a one finger bubbly off-white head. A very nice looking, true to form altbier. Scents of rich, sweet malt, light fruity esters reminiscent of apple and grape and a medium level of Noble hop perfume, floral and spicy, especially pepper, aromas. Overall impression of aroma is of a classic, very well executed Dusseldorf Altbier that hits the style exactly. Extremely well done. Flavor begins moderately bitter with a floral and perfume-like Noble hop presence evident, a light fruitiness that matches the aroma and a medium-light level of sweet malt. This moves into a middle with the same Noble hop character, but adds a more pronounced and complex malt flavor that is sweet and slightly bready in character. Fruity ester flavors are still present, still light and still apple with a bit of grape. Finish is medium-dry with a moderate Noble hop character and prominent hop bitterness, light fruity esters of apple, light toasted malt and nuttiness and a clean finish. Aftertaste is moderately bitter with a medium-light presence of sweet, bready, grainy and biscuity malt flavors. Overall impression of flavor is of a nicely done Dusseldorf Altbier that trends towards the bitter end of the style, yet fits it quite nicely. Well executed and enjoyable. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with moderate carbonation and a smooth feel. Overall impression of mouthfeel is of an excellent and true to form Dusseldorf Altbier. Overall this is a good Altbier. It is very true to style and pleasant in aroma, flavor and mouthfeel. It is a nicely done, aromatic, flavorful ale and quite nice.

22oz bottle - more Christmas goodies to get through, before that swath of Beer Advent Calendars does me in, come December. Oh, I do loves me some thoroughly unnecessary umlauts!

This beer pours a clear, dark red brick amber hue, with two Santa's belt-worthy fingers of densely foamy, puffy, and rocky ecru head, which leaves some decent bands of cobwebbed lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

The carbonation is fairly understated, with a bare, unassuming frothiness for the most part, the body an adequate medium weight, and a bit too cutting on the high and side palates to be deemed particularly smooth. It finishes less sweet than I was expecting - the alcohol, dry maltiness, and strangely subsumed spices ruling the day.

A strange, and very American re-telling of an old European story - y'know, boozing and hopping up an Altbier, not to mention trying to pass it off as a holiday seasonal. Well, they seem to have succeeded on all fronts, as despite this one's weird astringency, it still goes down well in the face of snowfalls and stupidly overcrowded shopping expeditions alike. Oh, and I suppose I can let some "Bloodline" roll, in honour of punny names everywhere.